Invasions of the British Isles have occurred several times throughout their history. The British Isles have been subject to several waves of invasion and settlement since humans began inhabiting the region approximately 900,000 years ago during the Paleolithic. Notable invasions of the British Isles including Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain, the Roman conquest of Britain, Viking expansion, the Norman Conquest, the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland and the Dutch invasion of 1688.
Prehistory and antiquity
Neolithic transition
By around 12,000 BC, during the Mesolithic, Western Hunter Gatherers had started to repopulate Britain at the end of the Younger Dryas. A study by Brace et al. (2019) found evidence of a substantial replacement of this population ca. 4,000 BC, with the introduction of agriculture by Early European Farmers from continental Europe. According to the authors, "the transition to farming in Britain occurred with little introgression from resident foragers – either during initial colonization or throughout the Neolithic." This scenario has been questioned by British archaeologist Julian Thomas, who proposes a two-stage model of Neolithization, with the later second stage resulting in a more significant population transfer than the first.
Arrival of Bell beaker culture
Starting around 2400 BC, the Bell Beaker complex arrived in Britain, probably from the lower Rhine, an archaeological culture characterised by a new bell-shaped pottery style, and grave goods that included copper daggers and items associated with metallurgy and archery. The spread of this complex introduced high levels of Yamnaya-related ancestry from the Pontic-Caspian steppe into Britain, resulting in the "replacement of approximately 90% of Britain's gene pool within a few hundred years".
An earlier study by Cassidy et al. (2015) notes a "great wave of change" at the end of the Neolithic in Ireland, including the introduction of copper mines, metallurgy, tool and weapon production, and distinctive Food Vessel pottery. Their genetic study found that three Bronze Age individuals from Rathlin Island ca. 2026–1534 BC (calibrated) also carried significant levels of Yamnaya-related ancestry, in contrast to the preceding Neolithic population, suggesting a population turnover which the authors propose "invites the possibility of accompanying introduction of Indo-European, perhaps early Celtic, language."
Celtic antiquity Before the Romans came to Britain, and with them the advent of written records of the region, the majority of Britain was Celtic. How and when these peoples arrived in the British Isles is a matter of much conjecture; see Celtic settlement of Great Britain and Ireland for more details. The 11th-century Lebor Gabála Érenn describes successive invasions and settlements of Ireland by a variety of Celtic and pre-Celtic peoples; how much of it is based on historical fact is debated.
Roman invasions In 55 BC, Celtic Britain was invaded by the Romans under Julius Caesar. Caesar's two invasions did not conquer Britain but established it as a major trading partner of Rome.
A century later, a botched attempt to conquer Britain was made under the emperor Caligula. Caligula's uncle and successor, Claudius, was the first emperor to oversee a successful invasion. He used as an excuse the pleas for help that came from the Atrebates, Celtic allies of Rome, and landed an army near present-day Richborough.Claudian Invasion of Britain . Unrv.com. Retrieved on 19 October 2010. The initial landings were unopposed, and the Celts delayed in responding to the invasion. When, under their leaders Caratacus and Togodumnus, they did, they were too late and were defeated in several battles, most notably that of the River Medway.
Claudius arrived himself, bringing up to 38 war elephants with him. When the Celts were finally defeated and Caratacus forced to flee to Wales, Claudius returned to Rome.
In the early AD 60s, the Celtic tribal queen Boudicca led a bloody revolt against Roman rule. While the governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was pursuing a campaign on the isle of Anglesey, Boudicca, angered by maltreatment at the hands of the Romans, urged her people to rise up.Boudicca's Revolt . Unrv.com. Retrieved on 19 October 2010. They did, and marched on Camulodonum (now Colchester), where many former Roman soldiers had settled.
The Romans in Camulodonum were massacred after a brief fight. Meanwhile, the Legio IX Hispana (Ninth Legion) had been sent south from Lindum (now Lincoln) to put down the revolt. It failed to arrive in time, and, when it encountered the Celts, was annihilated. The battle, however, may have enabled Governor Suetonius to arrive in Londinium (London) with a small Roman army. Despite the pleas of the civil officials,Churchill, Winston (1956). The History of the English Speaking People, Volume I, The Birth of Britain. Suetonius marched out of the city with his troops, knowing that any stand would be disastrous. Boudicca sacked London and pushed on to Verulamium (now St. Albans), which was also razed. Suetonius had gathered a large enough army, however, to do battle on the Roman road Watling Street. Boudicca was defeated, and Roman rule was restored to Britain.
In Sub-Roman Britain, the Scoti of Ireland raided and colonized the western Scottish and Welsh coastlines. Welsh legend holds that Gwynedd was established by Cunedda Wledig and his family, who invaded from the Old North, variously understood as Pictland or the Romanized tribes around York or Hadrian's Wall.
Germanic invasions
As the Roman Empire declined, its hold on Britain loosened. By AD 410, Roman forces had been withdrawn, and small, isolated bands of migrating Germanic peoples began to invade Britain. This was not a concerted invasion under a single leader,Section 36. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest Of Britain . Chestofbooks.com. Retrieved on 19 October 2010. and there is a debate over how extensive the Germanic migration into England was. However, the tribes, notably the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, quickly established control over modern-day England.
The peoples now called the 'Anglo-Saxons' largely came from Jutland and northern Germany, first landing in Eastern Britain. There are few records existing that account this migration, and those that were written come mainly from the Mediterranean area or were created long after the event. There were a small number of Anglo-Saxons already living in Britain before the Roman withdrawal in AD 408. The majority of these served in the army and helped the Romans fight Saxon pirates who raided the southern and eastern coasts of Britain from the 3rd century onwards. Following the collapse of Roman rule, the British rulers seemed to have hired the Saxons as mercenaries to counter the threat of invasions from the Picts in the first half of the fifth century. The Picts became less of a threat, but the mercenaries stayed and, realising their strength, rebelled. This encouraged the sea borne migration that subsequently followed and continued into the 6th century.Falkus, Malcolm. "Historical atlas of Britain". Book club associates London, 1980, p. 30.
Invasions of England (793–1285)
+ List of external invasions of England Invader Years Source Target Successful? The Great Heathen Army 865-878 Scandinavia The Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms x Olaf Guthfrithson 939 Kingdom of Dublin The Kingdom of Northumbria ✓ Eric Bloodaxe 947-954 Norway The Kingdom of England x Sven Forkbeard 1013-1014 Denmark The Kingdom of England ✓ Cnut 1015-1016 Denmark The Kingdom of England ✓ Harald Hardrada of Norway 1066 Norway The Kingdom of England x William the Conqueror 1066 Duchy of Normandy The Kingdom of England ✓ Danes under Sweyn II 1069-1070 Denmark The Kingdom of England x Henry Beauclerc, later Henry II of England 1153 County of Anjou The Kingdom of England ✓ Prince Louis of France, later Louis VIII 1215-1217 Kingdom of France The Kingdom of England x
He was proclaimed King Louis I of England at Old St Paul's Cathedral but never crowned.
Viking raids and invasions
Viking raids began in England in the late 8th century, primarily on monasteries.Sawyer. The Oxford Illustrated History of Vikings. pp. 2–3 The first monastery to be raided was in 793 at Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast, and the first recorded raid being at Portland, Dorset in 789; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle described the Vikings as heathen men.ASC 793 – English translation at project Gutenberg . Retrieved 20 May 2013 Monasteries and minster churches were popular targets as they were wealthy and had valuable objects that were portable.Starkey. The Monarchy of England. Vol. 1. p. 51 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 840 says that Æthelwulf of Wessex was defeated at Carhampton, Somerset, after 35 Viking ships had landed in the area.ASC 840 – English translation at project Gutenberg . Retrieved 20 May 2013
According to Norse Sagas, in 865 the legendary Viking chief Ragnar Lodbrok fell into the hands of King Ælla of Northumbria. Ælla allegedly had Ragnar thrown into a snake pit. It is said that Ragnar's enraged sons, taking advantage of political instability in England, recruited the Great Heathen Army, which landed in the Kingdom of East Anglia that year. There is no proof that this legend has any basis in history; however, it is known that several of the Viking leaders grouped their bands together to form one great army that landed in the kingdom of East Anglia to start their attempted conquest of England in 866.Munch. Norse Mythology: Ragnar Lodbrok and His Sons. pp. 245–51Jones. A History of the Vikings. pp. 218–19
In 867 the great army went north and captured York, but Ælla, together with support from the other English kingdoms, attempted to retake the city. He was unsuccessful; the annals for the year says that Ælla was killed during the battle, but according to legend he was captured by the Vikings, who executed or 'blood eagled' him as punishment for Ragnar's murder.ASC 867 – English translation at project Gutenberg . Retrieved 20 May 2013
By the late 9th century, the Vikings had overrun most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that constituted England at the time. However, Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington in 878. The resultant treaty gave the Danes control of northern and eastern England, with Alfred and his successors controlling Wessex.Attenborough. The laws of the earliest English kings: Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum. pp. 96–101 But the whole of England was unified with Norway and Denmark in the eleventh century, during the reign of the Danish king Cnut the Great.History of Viking Northumbria . Englandsnortheast.co.uk. Retrieved on 19 October 2010.Wood, In Search of the Dark Ages, pp. 216–22
When Cnut died, however, he was succeeded by the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor. Edward managed to reign until his death in 1066, when he was succeeded by the powerful Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson. Harold's accession, however, was not unanimously embraced. To the north, the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada invaded England. In the late summer of 1066, the invaders sailed up the Ouse before advancing on York. Outside the city they defeated a northern English army led by Edwin, Earl of Mercia and his brother Morcar, Earl of Northumbria at the Battle of Fulford on 20 September.ASC 1066 – English translation at project Gutenberg . Retrieved 20 May 2013 On hearing of the northern army's defeat Harold Godwinson marched the southern army north and met and defeated Hardrada at Stamford Bridge.
While Godwinson was busy up north, William the Bastard (later to be known as William the Conqueror), landed his army in Sussex, intent on seizing the throne of England.Bates. William the Conqueror. pp. 79–89
Norman conquest of England